Abstract:
Meteorological data with water parameters were collected on an hourly basis from June 3, 1982 through April 29, 1996 in the North Inlet Estuary, Georgetown County, SC. Readings were taken 24 hours a day, every day of the year, except when individual probes or the entire meteorological station were down. Most sensors were scanned once per second (3600 times per hour), and hourly averages for the ... previous hour were generated and recorded. Three different meteorological systems were used during this period (see Supplemental Information). The first and last systems were designed to measure and transmit wind speed, wind direction, air temperature, barometric pressure, solar radiation, precipitation, water level, water temperature, and conductivity data. The temporary system, deployed from October 1989 to December 1990, was substituted for the meteorological station destroyed by Hurricane Hugo in September of 1989. It measured all of the parameters detailed above plus relative humidity, but did not measure water level, water temperature, and conductivity. NO PRECIPITATION DATA ARE CONTAINED IN THE FINAL 1982-1996 DATABASE. Data from this sensor were removed because of problems with the recording device. Rain data does exist in another database called RAINDAZE. The water level and conductivity data should be used with CAUTION!! Twenty-four hour minimum and maximum values for the meteorological data occur in the 15 ancillary data files: LTER.MET1982.24HRMAXMIN.FINAL.CSV to LTER.MET1996.24HRMAXMIN.FINAL.CSV. An additional database contains daily maximum and minimum relative humidity values recorded by the National Weather Service observing station, located near the meteorological station. See the Supplemental Information.